Coin-controlled apparatus



Jan. 15, 1924.

H. K; LORENTZEN COIN CONTROLLED APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Original Filed March 19, 914

In entor:

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Jan. 15y 1924.

H. K. LORENTZEN I COIN CONTROLLED APPARATUS 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed March 19, 1914 vr'lllz \I H. K. LORENTZEN COIN CQNTROLLED APPARATUS Original Filed March 19, 1914 a Sheets-Sheet 3 Inventor fi f zw by Patented Jan. 15, 1924.

STATES PATENT .FFICE.

HANS K. LZDRENTZEN, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

COIN-CONTROLLED APPARATUS.

Application filed March 19, 1914, Serial No. 825,753.

chandise may be vended with safety and facility.

Still another object is to provide a COlIl".

controlled machine for vending small articles, in which articles are segregated from a store and delivered by the operation of a substantially one-piece coin controlled means.

Another object is to provide an apparatus intended particularly for vending ball gum, or similarly shaped articles from astore, in which the feed of the articles is made very certain.

Other objects and aims of the invention, more or less broad that those mentioned above, together with the advantages inherent, will. be in part obvious and in art specifically referred to in the course or the following description of the elements, combinations, arrangements of parts, and applications of principles constituting the invention; and the scope of protection contemplated will appear from the claim.

In the accompanying drawings, vwhich are to be taken as a part of this specification, and in which I have shown a preferred form of embodiment of the invention in one type of apparatus Figure 1 is a general view in elevation of a ball gum vending machine including my invention; Figure 2 is an enlarged section on the line 22 of Figure 1, some of the parts being broken away; Figure 3 is a section on the line 3--3 of Figure 2; Figure 4 is a partial front elevation, looking in the direction of the arrow 4 on Figure 2; Figure 5 is a section on the line 5-5 of Figure 2, showing the gumfeeding member in different positions by means of full and dotted lines; Figure 6 is a fragmentary plan view.

In the drawings, I have shown my inven tion embodied in a vending machine for what is known as ball gum, because certain features of the invention have especial value Renewed May 24, 1921. Serial No. 472,292.

in a machine of that kind. But it will be clear that the invention itself is not so limited in its application. Referring accordingly to the numerals on the drawings, I show at 14 a casing {which forms the base of the apparatus, and which has a bottom 15, and a top 16. Overlying the topplate 16 is a cap 17, provided with a recess 18 and with a horizontal slot 19. Preferably the parts so far referred to are circular, and there is a vertical rod 20, secured centrally of the top plate 16 and extending upwardly through the cap 17. A tubular member 21 of glass or other material is seated in an appropriate annular groove formed in the top of the, cap 17, and this tubular member 21 may be closed at its upper end by a cover 22, through. which the rod 20 passes centrally. Preferably the upper end of the rod 20 is headed, while its lower end is engaged by a nut 2% below the plate 16, so that access, to the rod to unfasten it for the purpose of removing the tubular member 21 may be had only upon removing the bottom 15, which is held in place as by means of a padlock or the like. The tubular member 21 is intended to hold a store of ball gum or the like, and the delivery thereof is through the top ofthe cap 17. The top of the cap 17, therefore, is provided with an arcuate cut-out portion 25, and the remainder of the cap topi inclines downwardly towards this cut-out portion, as indicated by the numeral 26 in Figure 3.

Beneath the arc-shaped opening 25, and completing the top of the cap 17 and the bottom of reservoir 21, is a plate 27 immediately below the opening 25. This plate 27 has a downward tubular extension 28 opening into it, and from the tubular extension 28 projects a horizontal arm 29 pivoted to the rod 20. Tubular member 28 extends downwardly below the arm 29, and immediately below the arm 29 it is provided with a transverse slot 30. By reason of the pivoting of the arm 29 the tubular member 28 has an arcuate path, and the lower open end of the tube travels over the bottom of a trough sunk below the level of the plate 16, and having a straight portion 31 and an abrupt descent 32. The parts are so arranged that there is just room in the tube 28, between the slot 30 and the surface 31 for one ball of gum. As the arm 29 moves in a clockwise direction (Figure 2), the slot 30 is entered by a tongue 34 which is integral with the plate 16, and this tongue 34 closes off the tube 28 above the slot 30, at the same time that the tube arrives at the dotted line position of Figure 5, when the ball within the tube below the tongue 3%, being freed from the restraint of the surface 31, drops down to the lower level 35 of the trough, which then takes a devious downward course to an appropri ate delivery opening 36 in the side of the base 14. The movement of the arm 29 .in one direction is accomplished by means of a finger-piece 37 extending through the slot 19, and return movement is caused by a retractile spring 38. I prefer that the tube 28 shall accommodate two balls of gum, one above the other, above the slot 30, so that, although the movement of the plate 27 and the inclination of the part 26 would ordinarily insure the feeding of 'a ball to the tube, the possibility of failure of feed due to sticking together of the articles is lessened, because the tube will deliver three before there can be a failure, and in the meantime, there are three chances for a restoration of normal teed conditions.

. I will now describe the means whereby the movement of the arm 29 to the point where the tube 28 discharges a ball of gum is controlled in accordance with the insertion into the machine of a proper coin or the my invention could be made without departing from the scope thereof, it is intended that all matter contained in the above descripti'on or shown in the accompanying drawings shall be interpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

It is also to be understood that the language used in the following claim is intended to cover all the generic and specific features of the invention herein described and all statements ofthe scope of the invention which, as a matter of language, might be said to fall therebetween.

I claim:

In a device of the character described, the combination of a reservoir having an openi'ng formed in its bottom, a base comprising a top plate and upon which the reservoir is supported with its bottom in spaced relation to said top plate, a swingingly mounted flat plate movable bodily in a horizontal plane beneath theopening of the reservoir, said plate carrying a tubular downward eX- tension which opens at the top of said plate, said tubular extension having a transverse slot formed horizontally in its wall, a trough depending from the top plate of the base and having two levels connected by an abrupt descent, said top plate of the base having an opening formed therein for the passage of the tubular member into said trough and having an integral tongue at the end of said opening which enters the slot of the tubular member at one of the limits of movement of the latter.

In testimony whereof I afliX my signature in presence of two'witnesses.

HANS K. LORENTZEN. Witnesses:

MARY H. LEWIS, HELEN V. FITZPATRICK. 

